Episode 2190: Gary Marcus on How to Tame Silicon Valley's AI Barons
Few artificial intelligence experts have been as outspoken or prescient as the author and entrepreneur Gary Marcus. In his new book, Taming Silicon Valley, Marcus takes on the new AI barons of Silicon Valley - billionaires like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman who are building an AI future that works for them rather than for the rest of us. In technology, Marcus argues, human agency is all important. So Marcus’ new polemic seizes back the mantle from these Silicon Valley barons on its insistence that AI must work for us.
GARY MARCUS is a leading voice in artificial intelligence. He is a scientist, best-selling author, and serial entrepreneur (Founder of Robust.AI and Geometric.AI, acquired by Uber). He is well-known for his challenges to contemporary AI, anticipating many of the current limitations decades in advance, and for his research in human language development and cognitive neuroscience. An Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at NYU, he is the author of six books, including, The Algebraic Mind, Kluge, The Birth of the Mind, and the New York Times Bestseller Guitar Zero. He has often contributed to The New Yorker, Wired, and The New York Times. His new book, Taming Silicon Valley: How We Can Ensure that AI Works for Us is published by MIT Press.
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.
Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Alexander Rose on The Lion and the Fox: Two Rival Spies and the Secret Plot to Build a Confederate Army
David Fenton on Lessons From Fifty Years as a Progressive Agitator: Never Lie, Tell the Truth, Repeat Repeat Repeat
Ian Kershaw: The Eleven Men (and One Woman) Who Authored 20th-Century Europe
Richard McCarthy: What Japan Can Teach Urban Americans About Regenerating Rural Values and Practices
Steve Kemper: Could Pearl Harbor Have Been Avoided With More Skillful American Diplomacy?
Eduardo Halfon: Why "Writing" Has Nothing to Do With Being a "Writer"
Katherine Corcoran: How the 2012 Murder of a Mexican Journalist Should Be a Warning About Press Freedoms in America
Andrew Hill on the Sign of Our Financial Times: How 2022's Best Business Books Address the Challenges of Contemporary Global Capitalism
Shannon O'Neil on The Globalization Myth: Why Most Economics Is Regional
Travis Baldree: Want to Self-Publish Successfully? Write Fast, Leverage All Your Social Media Networks, and Prioritize Memorable Cover Art
John Mulholland on Inside High Noon: Why the Classic 1952 Movie Is As Relevant in America Today As It Was 70 Years Ago
Ellis Cose on Reckoning on Race: Why Can't America Escape Its Racist Past?
Adam Mendelsohn on What Was It Like to Be a Jew in Lincoln's Armies: Jewish Soldiers in the Civil War